I am glad to see Saturday Night Magazine and author John Goddard, the author of the article, are not so easily duped by tall tales. In fact, they have now joined a long list of northern writers who have been rolling their eyes over Farley for years. Many of you have known Ernie Lyall and have likely read his book, his well publicized and best selling book, "An Arctic Man". Today, the Lyalls are a large and well known family here in the North. Betty Lyall works here as a translator in the Legislature. Any member of this clan is a highly qualified spokesperson on northern affairs. It was Ernie who first dubbed Farley Mowat as "Mr. Hardly Know it". Many of you also know News North columnist Cec McCauley. She is a Farley Mowat critic as well. In an item last May, Cec summed up the Saturday Night article with these words: "Poor Farley. They finally caught up with his fairy tales."
Mr. Mowat has not taken the criticism lightly. He has defended himself by saying he never intended to be a non-fiction writer. True; but neither did he take pains to say that he made up stories in his books, which have sold millions of copies world-wide.